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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 1:23PM
#341
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Are they not keeping the old client as well and give two options?
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 2:02PM
#342
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Yay. I get something that I already have.
Reflavoring: the change of flavor without changing any mechanical part of the game, no matter how small, in order to fit the mechanics to an otherwise unsupported concept.
Retexturing: the change of flavor (with at most minor mechanical adaptations) in order to effortlessly create support for a concept without inventing anything new.
Houseruling: the change, either minor or major, of the mechanics in order to better reflect a certain aspect of the game, including adapting the rules to fit an otherwise unsupported concept.
Homebrewing: the complete invention of something new that fits within the system in order to reflect an unsupported concept.
Default module =/= Core mechanic.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 2:15PM
#343
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Date Joined:
Jan 25, 2009
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Yay. I get something that I already have.
But slightly less useful! Even better!
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 2:22PM
#344
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Date Joined:
Jun 20, 2005
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An online-only character builder is not going to encourage me to renew my subscription. In fact, it seems to me to be an attempt to coerce people into keeping an active DDI subscription at all times in order to access the one quality tool that was introduced with DDI. :/
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 2:43PM
#345
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Are they not keeping the old client as well and give two options?
No, not really - the old client will not be uninstalled from your machine without your consent or anything, but it will no longer be updated as of whenever that last update was (October 12th) nor supported, IIRC from the announcement. If you want new content (including content that should actually be in the old client, like Dark Sun and Heroes of the Fallen Lands), you will need to maintain your subscription and use the new web-based version.
So there's really the old and busted client with no updates (and no way to download a fresh copy) or the web-based new hotness.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 3:36PM
#346
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Date Joined:
May 25, 2008
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As a friend of mine over on Facebook said: No-one is forcing us to make the change.
It's true. I could go and play AD&D if I wanted to. I also hear there are other RPGs on the market these days. Maybe I'll check one or two of those out, too.
I like having a tool that lets me update my PC's quickly and easily.
I like being able to do that from anywhere. I don't like internet access being required to update my characters.
Or maybe I'll go back to the old school and just use a pencil and a piece of paper to keep track of my characters.
It's also possible that I'll just decide I already have all the material I need to play D&D, and just stop buying more. After all, how many powers do I really need to be able to see?
The Character Builder was the only reason I subscribed to DDI. Dragon is nice. I occasionally look at Dungeon. The other tools never really made it off the starting line.
I need to have a long chat with my wife - my subscription is half hers, you see, so I don't get to make the decision alone.
If it were up to me alone, though, I'd walk away right now.
I'm very disappointed with this decision.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 3:52PM
#347
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It makes perfect business sense, especially since there were a lot of "just pay the $10 every few months, download everything and update your CB" with the air of putting the screws to WOTC. So:
Step #1) take away that option for the CB by making it web based.
Step #2) do the same for both magazines, eliminating the save option.
Step #3) make the Monster Builder also web based and enforce the silly copyright message at the bottom of each custom made monster.
Step #4) run off all your customers who were enjoying things the way they were.
(Steps 2-4 are my opinion only, but of course you all knew that, right?)
Blackbyrnepublishing.com
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 4:17PM
#348
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I would say this was incredibly insensitive of WOTC, but I did notice lately an emphasis on keeping printed material in line with current errata. So if they release a print product in the digest size at a reasonable price annually, to update the rules, you get the same benefit at a reduced rate with a little extra effort on your part.
Personally, I think this is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with our characters. CB has made us lazy min-maxers to some degree. I think getting back to pencils and blank character sheets is a good thing. A friend of mine who is an old-school gamer, but never really a hardcore one, played in my 4th edition game. Recently, he came to me with a friend of his who played decades ago and they asked me to run a 1st edition game. It wasn't the first time I'd heard this request or the assertion that old-school rpgs are better, but it was the first time I heard this argument:
I want to feel the dice in my hand and let fate, destiny or whatever take over. I want to use a pencil, not a pen, never a pen, because we grow, and I want to see my character in my own handwriting. I want to invest my energy into him and give him life.
I think he might be on to something. I think building our characters like they were machines with tools and parts robs the experience of some of the intimacy. But I do think we can recapture that feeling without abandoning all the cool goodness of 4th edition. Sharpen your pencils, tomorrow waits for no one.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 5:05PM
#349
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Date Joined:
Jun 10, 2007
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No, there was no real communication, there was silence.
They did not need to go into details on the problems, they needed to go into details on the plan to prevent further delays. For players like me, this was the culmination of years of problems.
Sorry, you're simply wrong. I know I got the announcement when they informed people the update was going to be late. And I got the update when they gave early October as the target date, complete with an apology for missing the scheduled update in the first place. That's called 'communication'.
As for giving "details on the plan to prevent further delays", there's probably about 10 people in this thread with the technical background to understand details of that sort. I'm willing to bet you're not one of them. (A hint: the details on the plan to prevent further delays would have included details on changes to the Character Builder's core engine, how data is gathered and encoded for use, and other such technical subject matter. Anything less detailed than that would have been a pointless middle ground that didn't add any useful information to the mix.) It's certainly not like missing an update (or even two) makes the character builder useless, or prevents you from using the books the update would include.
Personally, as a Mac user, I'm thrilled that we're finally going to be getting tools that don't require me to run Windows in a VM. I'm a bit curious about the UI changes involved, but as long as I can print my players' character sheets when I need to I'm thrilled to have the character builder.
Disclosure: I'm a software developer. I don't work for WotC. I never have, and doubt I ever will. (Nothing against them, I'm just in the wrong part of the country.) I'm familiar with how software schedules sometimes go 'beyond plan'. It's a fact of life. It's not a personal insult when it happens.I'm more interested in having a usable tool than complaining about how it gets to me. Apparently WotC is good about processing refunds in situations like this, even while you keep access to the rest of the D&DI subscriber-only content. If you're not happy with that, I don't know what to tell you.
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3 years ago ::
Nov 02, 2010 - 5:09PM
#350
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@Faelan, I'm not going to quote you because I dislike being trolled by someone calling me uneducated.
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